Monopoly
by coffeegirl02
Summary: Your basic Trory story. Or is it? I don't know how to explain it, but just read it!
1. Prologue

**Monopoly**

A/N:  Well, here it is.  I've been waiting for a story like this to pop out of my head, but it never came until yesterday =)  Anyway, on with the disclaimer: none of the characters in this story belong to me, except for the ones that aren't even on the show... but you won't be seeing many of those.  Please read and review, I'm anxious to know what everyone thinks!  If you need to contact me for any reason, email me at withthesewings@yahoo.com .

_Prologue_

According to him, life was one big game.  If you walked ahead too many spaces, you would lose everything.  Nevertheless, he always won.  Everything always went his way.  

To him, every girl was a game.  Of course, after winning every time, he would often forget about them, and move on to more difficult games.  As far as he was concerned, there was only one game that he could never beat- or tire of.  The only thing he wanted to win from this game was her heart- but unfortunately for him, it wasn't that easy.  There were always obstacles:

Encounter with her jealous boyfriend: move back 5 spaces.

Be an asshole for the day: move back 7 spaces.

Before he knew it, he was back at the starting place.  Of course, there were the rare times when he was able to move ahead, one step closer to the finish line: where he would finally get what he wanted ever since he laid his eyes on her.  Rory Gilmore.    

*          *          *__

That smirk.  It drove her crazy.  Damn him for having that effect on her.  She wanted to scratch it off of his face.  Were a biography written about him, his patented smirk would have been mentioned more than 100 times.  Rory found herself wondering if his smirk only had that effect on her- when she felt tingly and shivers were sent down her spine.  He seemed to know that he held some type of power over her, and he used it to his advantage.  He would find ways to smirk at her every time they encountered each other.  No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, she could never take her eyes off him when he smirked.  She didn't know why – after all, he was obviously being rude when he smirked.  

Rory's blue eyes surveyed her surroundings, looking at of the class room window.  It was open, and she was shivering profoundly – after all, it was winter.  As to why Mr. Medina had the window open when it was only 20 degrees outside, she had no idea.  She let out a sigh of relief when the bell rang, and she quickly gathered her books, hoping that the cafeteria would be warmer than the uninviting English classroom.   While she was getting her books out of her locker, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around – only to be greeted by a familiar smirk.  

"So Mary, I noticed that you were a little cold in Medina's class.  If you had only asked, I would have been happy to warm you up."  She turned her attention back to her locker, hoping that if she ignored him, he would go away.  

  
"If you don't mind, I'm busy here." she said exasperatedly, not bothering to turn back around to face him.  

"Mary, Mary, Mary.  I'm only concerned for you, you know.  It wouldn't hurt to be nice for once."  This time Rory turned back around, her eyes meeting his blue ones.  She noticed the position they were in- he had his hands on either side of her, pressing her against the cold metal of her locker.  He was famous for this, trapping girls so they had no way of escape.  Of course, it wasn't like any of the other girls minded.  

Ducking under his arms so she was now standing next to him, she stared at him.  "It wouldn't hurt for you to be nice either.  And I would appreciate it if you didn't treat me like one of your girlfriends- after all, I'm not.  Don't treat someone that way if you don't have any feelings for them."  She tried to say this without feeling, but it came out miserably.  Her sad eyes turned their attention over to her locker, and she closed it and walked away.  

Watching her retreating back, Tristan ran a hand through his tousled hair.  *_If you only knew, Mary.  If you only knew.*_


	2. metamorphosis, an observer, and a.. date...

**Monopoly**

Chapter 1

A/N:  See the prologue for the disclaimer.  Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it.  I hope you enjoy the beginning of, what I hope will be, a pretty good story. 

**Important note: There's no Dean in this story.  =) I'm sorry, but I don't like him and I don't want to waste a perfectly good story making Rory dump him for some reason or another!  BTW:  if you're wondering what Monopoly has to do with this, you'll find out in the next few chapters or so.  **

*          *          *

Rory opened the door of the school library, dropping her backpack down by the door.  Walking toward her usual spot by the window, she saw that it was occupied.  Rolling her eyes, she sat at a written-on table near the librarian's desk and opened _Metamorphosis, instantly getting comfortable despite the hard wooden chair she was sitting in.  Making a point to glare at the person who had stolen her chair by the window, she was more than shocked to discover that he was staring at her.  Rory quickly turned her eyes back to her book.  Much to her dismay, the boy walked over to her and stood in front of her for a few minutes, waiting to be acknowledgement.  _

"Yes?" Rory asked, not bothering to look up from her book.

"Uh… hi.  Rory Gilmore, right?"  At the mention of her name Rory looked up and surveyed him.  Raising her eyebrows, she replied.

"It depends on who's asking – and, by the way, who are you?"  He looked completely offended at the fact that she didn't know him.  A smirk appeared on his face, and she rolled her eyes.  No, it didn't have the same effect on her as Tristan's.  

"John Parker, at your service." Rolling her eyes again at his inanity, she smiled.  He was a good looking guy, for the most part.  Dark brown hair, blue eyes.  _Like Tristan's. Shaking her head as if to remove her last thought from her head, Rory sighed.  _

"Something the matter?"  

"What?  No.  Of course not.  But… I'm kind of wondering – why did you come over to talk to me?  I don't even know who you are."  

Ignoring her question, John glanced at her book.  Oh, reading Metamorphosis?  That was a good book."  She smiled at him, temporarily forgetting the fact that he avoided answering her question.  

"You liked it?  I think it's pretty interesting so far."  She was beginning to warm up to him.  At least now she could talk to someone about books.  As appealing as that sounded, she realized that she had to be pretty pathetic to think of something like that.  

"I can kind of relate to the character, anyway.  It must suck to have everyone hate you for being, well, _you."  His smile faltered a bit, but he managed to grin at her.  _

"What do you mean?  How could everyone hate you?  You _seem nice."  Confused by his previous statement, Rory turned her attention to him, placing her book down temporarily.  _

"Well, not _everyone hates me.  It's just – a few people, I guess."  _

"Like who?"  Rory didn't understand.  Why would anyone hate him?  He appeared to be so down to earth.  

"Well, one person in particular.  And I guess all of his friends hate me now too.  Yeah, I've gotten a few threats."  He looked at her, hoping to see pity in her eyes.  He grinned to himself, happy to see that she looked almost sympathetic.  

"What did you do to this person?"  

"That's just the thing.  I _didn't do anything to him.  He just hates me because… well… it's kinda personal."  Hoping that his last comment would send her over the edge, John waited for her to plead._

"Oh.  Okay."  His smile disappeared.  He was surprised to know that she wasn't concerned at all.  

"Um, anyway.  I was wondering, would you like to go somewhere with me after school?  Maybe to get a cup of coffee or something?"  _Please, he told himself.  __Please accept. Oh well, I'm a good manipulator._

Rory looked unsure for a moment.  Should she accept his offer?  After all, it wasn't like she was going out to dinner with him.  They were going to get a cup of coffee.  And if coffee was involved, she found it hard to refuse.  "Yea, I guess that would be okay."  

John's nervous smile turned into a grin.  "You won't regret it.  I guess I'll see you after school.  I know where your locker is.  We'll arrange everything then."  As soon as he was done with his comment, the bell rang.  "See ya later, Rory.  It was nice talking with you."  As he was walking away, he couldn't believe his good luck.  _What a way to get back at Tristan for what he did to me.  This is going to be easier than I thought.  He left the library with a malicious grin on his face.  _

Rory smiled up at him, and watched him walk away.  He seemed like a nice person, but something about him made her feel – different.  She couldn't quite place it, but it wasn't a good feeling.  

*          *          *

After the last bell of the day rang, Rory fumbled with the lock of her locker, opening it carefully.  She had too many problems with this locker to know that if she opened it too hard, it would bounce back in her face.  She wasn't in the mood to be hit in the face today.  

After she was done getting her books for the evening, she leaned against her locker, waiting for John to come.  Tristan walked to his locker next to hers and stared at her for a minute.  

For a second she met his stare but turned away quickly.  Luckily for her, John walked up to her and greeted her, ending the awkward moment between Rory and Tristan.  She smiled at him, silently thanking him.  However, John didn't notice her smile; because he was too busy glaring at Tristan.  Curiously, Rory turned to Tristan, noting that he had the same look of dislike on his face as John's.  

"Ready to go, Rory?  I'm sure the coffee doesn't like to be kept waiting.  I'll drive."  Turning her attention back to John, she smiled and nodded. They began to walk down the hall.  Glancing back at Tristan, she found him staring at John, a look of pure hate and anger on his face.  He turned his gaze to her, looking slightly confused, and shook his head.  After he had turned his attention back to his locker, Rory turned around.  

As they were walking in the parking lot of the school, Rory noticed that John was walking at a fast pace, and she had to run to keep up with him.  He didn't stop until he was in the driver's seat of his black BMW.  After throwing her backpack in the trunk of his car, Rory sat down in the passenger's seat.  

"So, where to?"  He asked, grinning.  

"Um... Starbucks?  It's a poor substitute for Luke's coffee, but I'm not going to introduce you to the town yet.  You might get a bad impression of me."  She laughed, and smiled when he agreed to go to Starbucks, a 10 minute drive from the school.

Turning on the radio, he focused on driving, while Rory made a note to herself to bring up the subject of Tristan later on.    


	3. bad music, coffee, and oompa loompas

**Monopoly**

Chapter 2

A/N:  See the prologue for the disclaimer.  Yet again, thanks to everyone who reviewed.  I'm having a little bit of a writer's block right now.  At the weirdest moments I come up with ideas for new chapters – so I have a few chapters saved up.  I'll post them when I get enough reviews!  Of course, I'm not bribing you… ;)  This chapter is rated pg-13 for some not so nice words =) and maybe a few... um... references as well.  

*          *          *

The car ride to Starbucks was a boring one.  In order to break the uncomfortable silence, John attempted to turn on the radio.  Of course, because he was driving, he pressed the air conditioner button instead.  Rory nearly froze to death until he finally figured out how to turn the damn thing off.  After she turned the radio on for him, she was beginning to regret that she ever did – the music was horrible, to say the least.  She tried to block out the tunes by looking out of her window.  

_Think happy thoughts, she told herself.  _

"So…" John was at a loss for words.  "What kind of music do _you like?"  _

_Well.  I guess he noticed that I don't like his, um… music.  _

"Oh, I don't know.  It's hard to place what I like under a certain category.  A lot of music interests me."

"That's cool.  I guess it's kind of hard to place what _I like under a category either… but I'm sure if you were to do that, you would put it somewhere between 'crap'  
and 'shit'."_

Rory blushed at his comment, but she smiled.  "It's not _that bad.  I guess you and I don't agree on our interests in music.  Completely okay."_

"I'm sure we'll find something to agree on.  Um, what about… movies?  What's your favorite movie?"

"Well, I don't think I have a favorite, but I'm a real sap for romance movies.  That and Willy Wonka."  She said this as though there was nothing odd about it, that every 17 year old should have a passion for the children's movie _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory._

"Willy Wonka?"  

"As weird as it sounds, yes.  My mom and I watch it all the time."  Seeing the look on his face, she added, "My mom and I are very close.  I guess I'm pretty lucky, because not all girls have good relationships with their moms."  

He grinned at her.  "Yeah, my dad and I aren't exactly the best of friends.  Maybe that's because he moved out on me and my mom 10 years ago.  I never talked to him much after that, all I got was a yearly check for 100 bucks on my birthday.  Not that I'm complaining, though."  Rory laughed at his comment.  She didn't even notice the car stopped until she sensed the familiar smell of coffee.

As they walked in, they engaged in a conversation about movies and books.  Since they didn't agree on music, they carefully avoided the subject.  Sitting at a table, Rory sipped on her frappucino as she listened intently to John talk about his infatuation for the book _Pride and Prejudice.  Since they were talking about their favorite things, Rory decided that now was not the time to bring up the fact that he and Tristan were shooting death glares at each other after school.  She decided that there really __was no perfect time to bring it up.  Sighing, she decided to say something.  _

"John, I want to ask you something."  He put down his cup of coffee and stared at her, waiting for her to talk.  

"I'm all ears."

"Well, it was about after school today.  When you came up to me at my locker, I noticed that you and Tristan looked like you wanted to kill each other.  Would you care to elaborate, or am I going to have to get it out of you?"  Surprised by her assertiveness, Rory shut up, waiting for John to answer.  Instead of letting it out right away, he let out a big sigh before finally speaking.

"It's like this.  Remember the guy I was telling you about, the one that hates me… _a lot?"  Rory nodded, knowing where this was going._

"Well, _surprise, it's Tristan."  With that, he got up to throw away his half-full cup of coffee.  Not only was Rory shocked that he got up so abruptly, but she was also surprised that the idiot threw away half of a perfectly good cup of coffee.  John sat back down, looking at her questioning eyes.  "Okay, so I guess I owe you more of an explanation than that."  After she nodded, he sighed a second time.  "We were all at a party.  With a few people – Duncan, Bowman, and a few other guys.  Tristan and I were sitting alone at a table, probably because we were both too drunk to do anything else."  Seeing the look of shock on Rory's face, he added, "I never really do anything like that.  I guess it was kind of like the spur of the moment type of thing."  He paused for a few seconds.  "Anyway, we were talking for awhile.  And I guess we got kind of bored, because there was really nothing to do at the damn party.  Tristan was tired of fooling around with girls, I guess.  Well, to make a long story short, he offered to sell me some drugs, he said he needed the money for something.  I don't do that crap.  I didn't know why he would.  I said no, and I guess he's hated me ever since."  
Rory was, if anything, at a loss for words.  Tristan? Drugs?  Somehow, those two words didn't sound right.  They didn't belong in the same sentence.  Sure, Rory knew that Tristan did some stupid stuff in the past, but she never thought that he would have done that.  She was absolutely bewildered.  John took Rory's silence for granted, thinking to himself.  _

_I can't believe she actually believed me.  Well, it looks like Gilmore is taking the bait.  I'll have her hating that asshole in no time, and then I'll finally get him back for what he really __did to me._

Looking at his watch, John saw the time as an excuse to leave.  "Wow, I never knew that time could go by so fast.  I guess it's time to leave."

As soon as they were in the car and on their way to Rory's house, she felt extremely uncomfortable.  She hardly knew John, and but she was already getting a weird feeling about him.  She was confused as ever, namely because he just seemed so _nice.  __Maybe, she decided, __I'll have to get to know him better.  Then I'll know for sure.  _

When John pulled into her driveway, Rory jumped at the chance to get out of the car and get her back pack.  Before she entered her door, however, she mumbled a quick "thanks" and "see you in school tomorrow".  John just smiled at her and before she knew it, he was on his way, his black BMW barely visible during the night.  

*          *          *

 Rory walked home to a very hyper Lorelai. "Oooh Rory, is he hot?  Is he nice?"

Rory rolled her eyes but smiled at her mother's childish behavior.  "I'm a little tired.  I'll tell you about it in the morning."  
Lorelai's face fell.  "But... but... I wanted to watch Willy Wonka!  You can't get enough of those cute little Oompa Loompas!"  

Seeing her mother's disappointed face, Rory finally gave in.  "Oh, alright.  But I'm _not going to put on that costume you designed, and I'm certainly not going to put purple makeup on.  Do that, and you're on your own."  _

"But that takes the fun out of it!"

"Sorry, Mom."  With that said, Rory plopped down on the couch and stared at the screen on of the TV, trying to concentrate on the movie and not on Lorelai's singing of the Oompa Loompa theme song.  

[**A/N:  well, how'd you like it?  I know it was kind of short, but in the next chapter, you're going to get... well… some troryness (maybe not _good troryness, but it's still troryness. Well, it makes up for the lack of it so far.  But, the real trory stuff doesn't come until later on.  Hey, absence makes the heart grow fonder!  In the next chapter, John might lie to Rory a little more. J (jerk!) ]_**


	4. rory and a terrible, horrible, no good, ...

**Monopoly**

Chapter 3

A/N:  See the prologue for the disclaimer.  In this chapter, John lies to Rory, again.  Darn her for being so gullible =) as always, please r/r!  Thanks to everyone that has done that so far.  

*          *          *

A very tired Rory Gilmore woke up the next morning at 5:00 AM.  Cursing herself for waking up so early on a school day, she forced herself to get out of bed and into the shower.  She knew it was going to be a bad day from the minute she woke up.  The shampoo that stung her eyes seemed to confirm her guess.  

After she managed to put on her school uniform, she ran downstairs to get her last minute coffee.  Unfortunately, she hadn't seen her backpack on the floor and almost knocked herself out on the kitchen table after tripping over it.  

"Yep," she said to an amused Lorelai, who was watching her daughter with interest, "the day just gets better and better." 

"Do you want to take the car to school?"  Lorelai seemed to think that her daughter would be better off with the car, but Rory disagreed.  

Rory shook her head no.  "Thanks, but no.  I don't want to take the chance of ruining the car.  Well, I gotta catch the bus.  Meet you at Luke's later?"  Already knowing what her mother's answer would be, Rory ran to the bus stop only to be yelled at by the pathetic bus driver who told her that she was late.  Muttering a sorry excuse for an apology, Rory sat down, wondering how much worse things would get at Chilton.

 *         *          *

If she only knew.  As soon as she reached her locker and attempted to open it, it swung open and hit her on the forehead.  

"Why me?!" She shrieked, unaware that she had an audience.  She attempted to punch the locker with her fists, but missed completely and instead slammed it into her English book.  "Forget Romeo and Juliet," she muttered.  

"Having a bad day, Mary?  Don't worry, I'll make it all better."  She hadn't noticed Tristan standing next to her, getting his books for his morning classes.

Rory glared at him.  "Shut up.  I'm not in the mood for you today." 

"Touchy, touchy.  I see that you're a morning person."

She glared at him once more before walking away.  He caught up with her, much to her dismay.  

"What do you want?  Shouldn't you be at the lockers, making out with your flavor of the week?  You'd better hurry, because we still have 5 minutes before class starts."

Rolling his eyes at her sarcastic but truthful comment, he smirked.  She stopped walking and glared at him.

"Why do you always have to smirk at me?  It's so… so… UGH!"  She gave up, and tried to walk away.  His hand instantly grabbed her wrist and she stopped.

"What?" she snapped, annoyed, but pleasantly amused at the same time.  

He moved towards her until he was only a few inches away from her face.  "You're so hard to please, Mary.  But don't worry, I'll figure something out."  

"Oh, shut up.  You'd never be able to make _me happy.  If you didn't already know, a relationship is not only physical.  You have to be able to __talk."_

Tristan sneered at her comment.  "What, like you'd want to talk with some asshole like Parker?  You don't know him, Rory.  And if you think you do, you're wrong."

Outraged by his comment toward her friend, she had to try to keep her voice down.  "Maybe you're right.  I might not know him very well right now, but I'd like to have the chance.  And from what he told me, I know a _lot about __you." _

Tristan smirked again.  "What did he tell you this time?  That I did his girlfriend?  No, that's not it.  Did I force him into buying drugs?  Or maybe it was a combination of the two.  Whatever he said, Rory, he's lying.  If you don't want to believe me, I don't give a crap.  But you might want to think before jumping to conclusions."

Tristan took one last look at her before walking away.  Rory stood there for a minute, biting her lip.  This was just great.  What a way to make her day better.  Taking a deep breath, she walked into Mr. Medina's classroom, ready for another day of boring English.

As she took her seat, Rory pulled her book out of her backpack and placed it on her desk.  Reaching back in for a pen, her hand sought something that was obviously not there.  Muttering to herself about the absence of her pen, she hardly noticed that another pen found its way onto her desk.  Startled, she looked up at Paris.

"It seems like you're having a bad day.  Usually I'd jump at the chance to see you miserable, but I found that I'm in a good mood today.  So, here you go- a free pen.  I wouldn't want you to go through the pain of having to buy one yourself- you might be able to use the money to buy your mother a new black skirt."  Recalling the black skirt that she had in her possession, Paris smirked.  "It's actually a very nice skirt.  And I didn't have to pay for it.  Here's your money back.  I'm sure that you can put a down payment on it."  She walked away, smiling to Madeline and Louise, who were across the room smirking at Rory.  

Rory gritted her teeth, desperately trying to keep her clenched fists under her desk where they wouldn't punch Paris in the face.  It was lucky for her that class started, because she probably would have done something very – _evil - to Paris.  _

Mr. Medina cleared his throat, trying to get the attention of the class.  Almost everyone turned around, except for Madeline and Louise, who were discussing their opinions on Rory's skirt.

"I wonder if she knows that the button is open.  Maybe it'll fall off."

"But if she gets up, wouldn't it fall off?"  A confused Madeline asked, unaware of the situation at hand.

Louise rolled her eyes.  "That's the _point, Madeline."_

Mr. Medina cleared his throat again.  "Ms. Grant, please.  I encourage you to stop conversing with your friend and listen to what I have to say."

Louise turned to face him.  "Oh.  Whatever.  Go ahead."

Rory looked down at her skirt, and turned red at the fact that her button had come undone and her skirt had nothing else to hold it up.  Trembling as she buttoned it, she prayed that the tears that were threatening to roll down her face wouldn't come.  

Mr. Medina glared at her before continuing.  "As I was saying, I have your tests graded.  I'm very pleased with them.  There was only one bad grade out of all of the papers, and the highest score of all was a 99.  Ms. Gellar, I think I'm going to make your tests harder."

Paris smiled contently and looked over at Rory.  "I guess we all know who got the highest grade.  I wonder what _you got."_

"Not like it's any of your business."

"Everything around here is my business.  Get used to it."

A paper was placed on Rory's desk by Mr. Medina.  "We all have our off days, _Ms. Gilmore.  I'm sure it won't affect your grade too much."  Rory turned red and looked over at Paris who was listening intently and smirking.  Turning over the test paper, she was shocked at the grade that was marked on the test in red pen.  **"65, D.  If you needed extra help, Ms. Gilmore, I would have been happy to help.  Please remember that for the **__next test."_

Shaking with anger, tears appeared in Rory's eyes, slowly rolling down her cheek.  Tristan watched her from across the room, and for a minute she met his eyes.  Quickly looking down, he turned his attention to his own grade, a 92.  Rory was still staring at him, but focused her attention back on Mr. Medina, who was trying to explain the reason why everyone got number 2 wrong on the test.  Tuning him out, she glanced at the clock, and was relieved that she had to sit through only 4 more minutes of the class.

*          *          *

Going to the library during lunch, Rory hoped to see John there.  After all, they met there the day before, and maybe he would be there again.  Smiling to herself when she saw that her seat by the window wasn't taken, she sat there and opened up _Metamorphosis again.  She couldn't completely concentrate on the book, because she had her thoughts on other things – namely, the fact that she was having a bad day.  She was too busy wondering thinking about it that she didn't notice that John was standing in front of her._

"Rory… Rory?  Earth to Rory…" He snapped his fingers in front of her and she jumped up, surprised.  

"What?  Oh, hi John.  I didn't see you there." 

Laughing at her ignorance, he sat down in the chair across from her.  "So, how's the day been treating you?"

Rory frowned, annoyed that she would have to relive it for him.  "Let's just say it sucked and leave it at that."

"Bad day, huh?  Well, if it makes you feel any better, mine wasn't so great either.  I had a nice little conversation with my favorite person."

"And that would be…?"

"Tristan, of course.  He pushed me against a garbage can on purpose and then muttered something about me lying about something.  I don't know where he gets the nerve."

Rory's smile faltered.  _This is too weird.  "Oh.  I had a conversation with him too.  He said that you were lying.  And I'm sorry, but I'm not sure who I can believe right now."_

John glared at her.  "I thought that you would have believed me.  I thought that we were friends.  But maybe you'd rather be friends with him."

Rory returned the glare.  "Well, sometimes friends _lie.  I'm not saying that you are, but I'm not about to believe you just yet.  I'm sorry."_

John's smirk turned into a smile.  "Ok, I'm sorry.  I guess I was getting a little nervous.  I just want you to know that I wouldn't lie to you about anything.  I mean it, Rory."

Smiling warmly at him, Rory decided to change the subject.  "It's okay, really.  I guess I should be apologizing too, because the fact that I'm having a bad day isn't really helping me any."

"What happened?"

"For one thing, I got a D on my test.  The button on my skirt came undone, and it was talked about during class.  Paris was being ruder to me than usual, and my locker opened up in my face.  I'm sure I missed a few things, but if you don't mind, I don't want to talk about it.  That would probably make it suck even more."  

John smiled knowingly.  "Oh, it's ok.  I've had a few of those days myself.  Why don't I try to make your day better by bringing you for some coffee after school?"  
Rory frowned.  "I'm not so sure about that… you might wind up hating me."

"C'mon, Rory.  It's coffee, the beverage you love so much… how could you _possibly refuse?"_

Waiting a moment to reply, Rory surveyed him carefully.  After a few minutes, she smiled slightly.  "Ok, sure.  If it's coffee- I guess that would be alright.  Let's just hope that it doesn't spill on my lap.  I'd really cry then."

"Why, because it would be too hot?"

Rolling her eyes, Rory shook her head.  "No!  Because it would be wasting a perfectly good cup of coffee."  

"Uh, right.  I have to go now, it seems as though lunch will be over in 10 minutes and I still haven't finished my homework for trig.  Pick you up at your locker?"

Rory nodded.  "Yeah.  Talk to you later."

Rory watched him leave and smiled to herself.  _Maybe he's not so bad after all._

*          *          *

John walked through the Chilton hallways, smirking to himself.  This was just too easy.  In a matter of days, Rory would be his.  He would get what he wanted from her, and that's all he needed.  Part of him felt guilty about using her to get to Tristan, but it was just part of the plan, and he couldn't do anything about it.  The poor girl was clueless- she had no clue what she was about to get herself into.  John walked slower than usual as soon as Tristan was in sight, and he smiled sourly at him.  

"Hello there, DuGrey."  

"What do you want, Parker?  I told you never to talk to me again."  Tristan glared at him, trying to ignore him at the same time.  He turned his head back to his friend Chris, who had taken the moment to leave.  

"What do I want?  I want what you want, DuGrey.  And you're going to be very sorry once I get it."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?  Sure, I want a Mercedes for my birthday.  How are you going to get one?"

"Dumbass, that's not what I meant.  It's not really a _what,__ it's more like a … __who." _

John watched as Rory walked down the hall.  Taking a moment to wave to her, he smiled and turned back to Tristan.

Tristan watched as Rory waved back and gritted his teeth.  "You wouldn't."

"Oh, but I would.  Trust me, DuGrey, you're going to be sorry for what you did.  And you're going to pay for it."

John smirked one last time before walking away, disappearing into a crowd of people in the hallway.

(A/N:  Ok, so I said John would lie to Rory in this chapter.  It didn't really go well in here, so I'm saving that for the next chapter.  Please R/R… it's what makes me want to post more chapters!)


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